What does it take to get me to the doctor?
Generally, an ambulance, called by someone else while I was unconscious.
What?
Hey, I don’t much care for doctors.
Tris
The following have gotten me to go to the ER (I’m female, by the by):
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Shingles - I had a migraine for about a week and finally went to the ER because I started getting seeping sores, still had a migraine and my right eye was starting to droop. Given the pain in my head and drooping eye, I was worried I’d had a stroke and didn’t realize it.
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Still shingles - the people at the ER told me to come back if my eye got worse (the shingles was actually in my eye); it did, so I came back.
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Chopped part of my pinkie off - I only went to the ER after talking to an RN with my insurance plan who told me to go and at least get a tetanus shot. I hardly chopped the whole thing off - just the tip. Didn’t seem worth it to go and I felt pretty stupid, but I got a really cool-looking wrapping and a shot.
The following have gotten me to go to the doctor:
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An extremely painful sore throat that lasted more than 10 days which started before I came back from India and continued well after I had returned to the States.
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Sky-high cholesterol numbers on my tests when I got a life insurance policy (I’ve brought those down significantly since then).
And that’s about it.
For me it takes Something Definitely Not Right. It doesn’t necessarily have to be much, but it has to be something definite.
Most recently (last Friday in fact) it was a red blotchy itchy rashy flaky thing that started on my eyelids, of all places, before Christmas and has spread to my upper arms and inner thighs. (I would have gone in sooner, but my mother’s dying process took precedence.) It appears to be a fungus infection, and I’m now on meds for it.
I know I should go in more often for routine checkups, but I have a really hard time getting motivated when nothing’s wrong with me. It doesn’t help that I’m female and the routine checkup things I need, like mammograms and Pap smears, are a big bundle of no fun.
The last time I sought medical attention for anything was when I had a sore throat that lasted long enough and was inflamed enough that I was afraid it might be strep, or at least some bacterial infection that wouldn’t clear up on its own. But that was years and years ago. And it was, while not horribly unpleasant to go in and get it looked at (after sitting around in the waiting room for awhile), something I’d rather not do if I didn’t have to, especially if I’m not feeling well.
And that was at a Prompt Care-type clinic kind of place. For me, there’s no such thing as the doctor. If I needed a doctor, I wouldn’t know which doctor to go to. So I’ve decided just never to need one. That’s working out fairly well so far. And I have the words of Jesus himself backing me up.
The last time I went to a doctor was after I crashed my motorcycle. I still waited until Monday so I could get a regular appointment. I did have a crushed tip on my elbow so even broken bones won’t get me into an emergency room. When I went to the Doc he missed the nylon from my jacket that melted into my arm, I missed it as well. About a month later that “scab” wasn’t changing so I decided to pick at it and was unable to. Well by this point I had an infection under the healed parts. I heated up a box cutter and cut into it and then poured alcohol into the cut after a week of this treatment the infection was gone. I have good insurance but I prefer to do things myself. After some horrendous bills based on some surgeries that I had in college I’m reluctant to give any more then I have too.
I do see my doctor on a regular basis so he can check up on my blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. So far my primary health problem is my weight, although that contributes to things like my bad knees. Other than that, unless something is bleeding and won’t stop, is missing or obviously broken, or just won’t stop (like the persistent cough I had after Christmas) I don’t just try to treat it myself.
I recently saw an ENT for a followup visit and mentioned that I had managed to get some cotton from a Q-tip in one ear. She looked inside, saw it, and pulled it out - total time about a minute or two. I recently got the bill for that visit and it included $168.92 (after insurance discount) for “clear outer ear canal” in addition to the fee for the visit itself, which was fully covered by my insurance. Now I remember why I treat myself.
Funny enough, here I sit at work, still pooping myself silly and still won’t move my doctor’s appointment up (I have one on Thursday next week). My daughter and husband have both been hounding me to see the doctor sooner, and now my cubicle neighbor is hounding me, too. The thing is, like I said before – I am staying hydrated and it’s just poop. I did coin a new word yesterday “jalapeñus” – it’s what happens when you eat jalapeños while having stomach trouble. Yeh, I won’t be eating shrimp nachos again for a while – at least until my poop is a little more solid and/or I am actually digesting my food before pooping it out – how’s that for a TMI post?
Fight this. Check your policy. Enlist the help of your Benefits Manager, if you have one at your job.
My first husband’s carrier did the same thing when he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. Of course it was “pre-existing” but he hadn’t been treated for it in the past six months. That was the kicker with his coverage, and they ended up covering it.